Audi Showcases History and Future of Automotive Lighting

Back in the 80s and early 90s, pop-up headlights were just about the coolest things on the planet. In so many cases, whether or not a car looked jaw dropping could be determined by the inclusion of pop-up headlights. A good example is the NSX. Compare these two pictures of the early model (red) and the late model (yellow).

Even with the targa roof, the later model lacks the overall coolness of its predecessor. And this shift away from cool lighting wasn’t just a Honda NSX thing. The entire industry pushed itself away from exploring headlight technology aside from the odd projector headlight here and there. Of course, a lot of companies like, BMW and Mercedes, had light ideas of their own like Angel Eyes and dual headlamp design, but it wasn’t until Audi integrated the first Audi R8’s Daytime Running Lights (DRLs) on its 2008 A4 that the industry changed its ways.

Once that happened, nearly every car manufacturer started taking notice of the importance of headlamps and lighting as a strong part of reinforcing brand identity and design. And now, with the race to create the coolest, most advanced and best looking lights on, Audi have released a video called Speed of Light. It showcases the history of lighting on cars as well as Audi’s plans for how its future lights will behave. Check it out here: